Benue killings: Women, children beheaded, burnt in fresh attack

In a fresh assault on the Iye Community in the Uvir Council Ward of Benue State’s Guma Local Government Area, suspected armed herdsmen are suspected of killing about 18 people.

Around six o’clock on Sunday, when locals were conducting market-day business, the attackers allegedly stormed the neighborhood.

According to reports, some of the victims—including women and children—were beheaded, and their corpses were burned alongside their homes and food barns.

During the attack, other impacted people also suffered injuries of varying severity.

A local who lost a family member in the attack said, “Fulani herdsmen attacked Iye community on Sunday around 6 o’clock. Over 18 people were killed by them, including my brother. Several other people were hurt, and many houses, including some of the victims’, were set on fire. On the day of the Iye market, when people were busy trading, an attack took place.

We were forced to leave our village, Tse-Orvihi in the same Guma LGA’s Uvir Council Ward, and my family sought refuge at Iye, where they later arrived and killed my brother yesterday.

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When the attack was confirmed, Mr. Julius Alawari, the commissioner of police for Benue State, said that seven corpses had been found at the scene.

“A combined team of Operation Whirl Stroke, the Police, and the Volunteer Guards confronted and repelled them,” he revealed. Also killed was one of the attackers.